At the end of the 18th century, a customs officer named Christoph Malaisé moved from the Vosges region in France to Germersheim in Bavaria with his young family. His son Ferdinand Malaisé went on to have a successful military career and become tutor to Ludwig III, the last King of Bavaria. Towards the end of his life Ferdinand was enrolled in the lower hereditary nobility of Bavaria and the family name changed to 'von Malaisé'.